Renovation # 7 of 15 as of 2014... Charles Ave, St Paul - Hamline Midway

A drug house on the block boasting pit bulls that bit the mail man, neighbors were happy to see this true gem of a property turned back into a quiet family home. This was after the Real Estate market crash, so in 2008 it was a risky buy and a very lovely home not needing too much work. After a new kitchen, lots of paint, basement clean up and an Exterior makeover it was ready for a new Homeowner. Not knowing what the market would be doing we offered it Rent to Own and For Sale and God brought the perfect family buyer in my humble opinion. This family has a very positive impact in the neighborhood and community which happens to be connected to GROUNDSWELL ... "a small collaboration of coffee, bakery, craft beer and wine, food, and hand-crafted gifts" located at Thomas & Hamline. Here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen, porch, backyard and a bathroom.

Renovation # 6 - Minneapolis side of town

5649 Upton Ave - Minneapolis

This was a Hoarder house. I had to look at the pictures to re-jog the memory. We have Before pictures AFTER we cleared out a dumpster full. There was literally a walking path from the side door to the bedroom and also to the Living Room. It was an estate - God rest their soul. But as you know Homes are not everybody's priority which is completely understandable. So, here are a few pictures of the lovely, solid, quality built home. One of the new exciting Features was: the Floating Wrap-Around Deck! This home was acquired in May 2007 and sold in August of 2008 after a short Rent to Own Contract thanks to John Marton of Bridge Realty for bringing the Buyer and our Craigslist Ad ;-)

 UPSTAIRS - OUR NEPHEW PHILIPPE TAKING IT ALL IN....

 THE LOWER LEVEL - ADDED A BEDROOM, BATH & NEW LAUNDRY

Renovation # 5 - 1307 Blair Ave, St. Paul, MN

To be honest, my head wasn't much in the Real Estate world with Andy's Home-Purchases at this point, however, he had a big vision for this Renovation thing he was doing "on the side" a.k.a. in his spare time. So, when he came across this solid quality built 1.5 Story that needed mostly interior updates to reach it's full potential, he bought it.... in August of 2005. Ouch! Yep, so by the time he was done gutting the kitchen and baths, installing New, the market was on the downward spiral. He Listed it For Sale, but wasn't able to turn it for a profit. He decided to keep it and rent it. We had the best Tenants: 2 sets. And they were all fantastic but Andy was wearing the Landlord Hat which was not his first choice. He was determining that he liked to see people Buy his finished product and make it their own rather than to maintain the up-keep; re-renovate all over again every few years. We then sold it in 2011 for a very fair price thanks to Linda Morse with RE/MAX Results who brought the Buyers. They say every 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 8 is a flop; no money to be made. It's risky business, but a calculated risk at that. And there isn't really anything to FLIP except your wallet open to the oodles of cash it takes to invest into a property. If you're a homeowner, then you know what I mean. It's stressful, there's always something to be fixed, an appliance on the replacement list, etc. Homes are work. But some people enjoy working on them more than others. Here are some pictures of the Lovely Home at 1307 Blair Ave:

Renovation # 4 : Our 3rd and Last Homestead in Midway - St Paul, MN

In 2003 we obtained 1735 VanBuren Avenue and lived there for 7 awesome years! We bought this home from our neighbors who lived next door. This is the second time we bought a home next door on the same block, renovated it and moved in. At this point we did not have children so we were working full-time jobs and renovating this home on the side for fun, you know, on weekends and evenings. It's not all that drab though because even though this was a labor of love for the Mister we were traveling to all the states across the U.S. and spending several trips in Florida and New Mexico visiting family and friends for vacations and whatnot.

At this point, the market was still hot and the great Real Estate Bubble was growing big and fat. We were benefiting from this in the Midway area of St Paul until (Renovation Story #5, yet to be written) became our crash and burn investment. It was inevitable. The market was out of control and housing was becoming unaffordable, or, inflating at too large of rate. Either way, we survived the storms and continue to wade out the peaks & valleys of the market in 2014 since this is what we do. We were loving the area for affordability and the young culture with young families and all the Colleges and Universities in the immediate area.

Back to 1735 VanBuren: we bought this home from our very warm and eclectic neighbors Chris & Jane who had lovingly taken care of this property but it became a handy man's estate to be fixed up and restored to it's original Executive Old English Tudor Home on a double lot which in the city is much coveted along with a double garage and extra parking space. This absolutely beautiful home boasted 2 fireplaces, 5 bedrooms, 4 bath (1 on each level), a large deck, balcony, private Master Suite, Walk in closets, breakfast nook, blah, blah, blah.... Andy finished the basement on this one and completed the Master Bedroom in the Attic. The last renovation we did was to convert the Lower Level wood burning Fireplace to Gas which we used daily until we moved.

We have super fond memories of the area, the friends we made, the cool culture that permeated the area, bagpipes & saxophone being played by musicians and then there was the weekend evenings police sirens, I must say. But literally, we had the best neighbors and friends and once our 3 kids came along they had the best of friends too with all the great families in the area. We found a very lovely couple to buy this home for $305,000 and make it their own in 2011 thanks to Sue Drude Noyes & David Noyes of Codwell Banker Burnet. We were especially excited to work with SUE because she was our Realtor who helped us buy our first home who happened to specialize in distressed properties. Pretty neat.

 

1735 VanBuren Ave

 

Me - brother Joe - this is the kitchen BEFORE

 

There was beautiful Birch Hardwood floors underneath layers of flooring.